CERT.br

CERT.br
Name	CERT.br
Native name	Centro de Estudos, Resposta e Tratamento de Incidentes de Segurança no Brasil
Formed	1997
Headquarters	São Paulo, São Paulo
Country	Brazil
Parent organization	Núcleo de Informação e Coordenação do Ponto BR

CERT.br CERT.br is the national Computer Emergency Response Team of Brazil, established to coordinate cybersecurity incident handling, vulnerability analysis, and information sharing. It operates within the Brazilian internet infrastructure ecosystem alongside entities like Núcleo de Informação e Coordenação do Ponto BR, Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil, ANATEL, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovações and interfaces with international bodies such as FIRST, OAS, ICANN, ISOC and ITU. CERT.br contributes to policy, technical research, and capacity building relevant to stakeholders including Banco Central do Brasil, Petrobras, Ministério da Defesa, Universidade de São Paulo, Agência Nacional de Saúde Suplementar and private sector operators.

History

CERT.br was created in 1997 during a period of rapid expansion of the Internet in Brazil and global developments following incidents handled by teams like the original CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University. Early milestones include collaboration with academic institutions such as Universidade Estadual de Campinas and participation in regional initiatives led by LACNIC and RedCLARA. Over time CERT.br engaged with legal and regulatory actors including Supremo Tribunal Federal and Conselho Nacional de Justiça on matters intersecting with digital security, contributed to technical responses during crises involving infrastructure providers like Eletrobrás and financial institutions such as Caixa Econômica Federal, and matured its role amid international frameworks exemplified by dialogues with European Union cybersecurity agencies and NATO cyber defense forums.

Organization and Governance

CERT.br is administratively integrated with Núcleo de Informação e Coordenação do Ponto BR (NIC.br) and subject to oversight from sector stakeholders like Comitê Gestor da Internet no Brasil. Its governance involves coordination with federal agencies including Ministério da Justiça e Segurança Pública, Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, Receita Federal do Brasil and provincial actors such as the Governo do Estado de São Paulo. Internally it maintains specialist teams for incident response, vulnerability research, outreach, and legal liaison, engaging experts affiliated with Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz and private sector partners like Stefanini and TOTVS.

Mission and Activities

CERT.br’s mission encompasses incident detection, handling, and dissemination of technical advisories to stakeholders such as Procon-SP, Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações and Ministério da Saúde. Activities include vulnerability coordination with vendors including Microsoft, Google, Cisco Systems, Oracle Corporation and Red Hat, threat intelligence sharing with platforms used by Interpol, Europol, FBI and CERT-EU, and capacity building for institutions like Universidade de Brasília and Centro de Estudos e Sistemas Avançados do Recife. CERT.br also supports critical infrastructure resilience for operators like Vale S.A. and transportation bodies such as Departamento Nacional de Infraestrutura de Transportes.

Services and Tools

CERT.br publishes bulletins, advisories, and maintains technical tools and datasets used by network operators, registrars, and security practitioners including those at Registro.br, ANPD, Serpro and private ISPs like Claro Brasil and Vivo. Tools and services range from DNS abuse notifications tied to ICANN routines, passive DNS datasets used by researchers at Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia, to malware analysis reports referencing samples impacting platforms by Apple Inc. and Android (operating system). CERT.br also operates incident reporting channels utilized by corporations like Itaú Unibanco, Bradesco and educational networks such as Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa.

Incident Response and Coordination

CERT.br leads national incident coordination, collaborating with law enforcement agencies like Polícia Federal, Polícia Civil (Brazil), and prosecutors in the Ministério Público Federal for cybercrime cases. It coordinates cross-border responses with international partners including US-CERT, CERT-UK, CERT.PT and regional CERTs within LACNIC and OAS frameworks. CERT.br applies standards and best practices rooted in schemas from ISO/IEC 27001 and engagement with operational communities involving RIPE, IETF and APNIC to manage distributed denial-of-service, intrusion campaigns, and supply chain incidents impacting vendors such as Siemens and Schneider Electric.

Research and Publications

CERT.br produces technical reports, statistical analyses, and white papers used by academia and industry, citing methodologies aligned with work from MIT, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and cybersecurity centers like CIS and SANS Institute. Publications address topics from phishing and ransomware campaigns to IoT and SCADA vulnerabilities affecting sectors represented by ANP and Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica. CERT.br shares datasets and collaborates on peer-reviewed studies with laboratories at Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, Centro de Tecnologia da Informação Renato Archer, and international research bodies including ENISA.

Partnerships and Outreach

CERT.br maintains partnerships with a broad ecosystem including technical registries like LACNIC, ARIN, APNIC, academic consortia such as RNP, private consortiums like ABRANET, and international organizations such as World Bank and UNESCO for digital resilience initiatives. Outreach includes training programs and exercises with military academies like Escola Superior de Guerra, industry associations such as FIESP, and civic organizations including Instituto Ethos and Associação Brasileira de Internet. Through these engagements, CERT.br advances cybersecurity awareness among service providers like TIM Brasil and content platforms operated by Globo and UOL.

Category:Computer security organizations